Lee Kuan Yew
(b. 1923), Singaporean statesman. During his tenure as prime minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990, Lee Kuan Yew led the country's transformation into a modern, clean, green entrepot city-state with highly successful manufacturing, financial and banking, and communications sectors. Under colonial rule prior to the 1960s, Singapore was known for its considerable squalor, poverty, disease, and ignorance and had a reputation as a hotbed of communist radicalism.
Lee studied in the United Kingdom at the London School of Economics and Cambridge University, earning double first honors. Returning to Singapore, in 1954 he founded the People's Action Party to fight for Singaporean independence. In 1959, at the age of thirty-five, he became prime minister, only eleven years after taking his first degree at Cambridge.
Lee emphasized the development of Singapore as a multicultural, multiracial nation with a distinctive identity. He personally practiced this ideal, speaking six different Asian languages as well as English. He favored social engineering, social conservatism, and Asian values. A pragmatist, Lee wanted to create an effective socialism in Singapore. Noted for his corruption-free leadership, Lee was nevertheless seen by many in the West as practicing an authoritarian democracy with harassment of opposition groups and little tolerance of dissent.
Lee Kuan Yew in September 1965. (BETMANN/CORBIS)Lee was one of the few world leaders to give up power voluntarily (in 1990), providing for a smooth succession in political leadership. He will be remembered as a transformative leader of the twentieth century who helped Singapore become one of the world's most competitive economies.
Further Reading
Josey, Alex. (1968) Lee Kuan Yew. Singapore: Donald Moore Press.
Razak, Mohamed Najib Tun. (1998) "Lee Kuan Yew." Asiaweek (12 June).
Sheridan, Greg. (1997) "Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong: Old Tiger, Young Tiger." In Tigers: Leaders of the New Asia-Pacific. St. Leonards, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 59–83.
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